The novel “The life and crimes of Harry Lavender” composed by Marele Day, creates the distinctive voice of a “hard-boiled” detective. This is achieved by commencing the novel with the disreputable image of a hangover and intercourse with a stranger. Much of the audience would mindlessly assume that the detective’s gender is male due to the hangover scene which has been set, it’s not until the third page has been read that the audience realises that the “hard-boiled” detective is actually a female by the name of Claudia Valentine. This is effective because it challenges the audience’s knowledge of stereotypes and mystery/crime texts, this assists with gaining the readers interest pursuing them to read on.
Claudia Valentine, the protagonist within the text “The life and crimes of Harry Lavender”, is a intelligent female detective who always has her mind set on the mystery, she lives in a room above a bar in a sordid area of Sydney. The drunken image which is presented in the introduction of the novel shows that Claudia Valentine is self depreciating and constantly on the go, this is proven by having the messy apartment and the cramming of vitamins down her throat.
Claudia Valentine possess many masculine traits of a “hard-boiled” private eye detective, she’s constantly curious, a good example of this is when she continuously notices the BMW and feels as if she’s being followed. Claudia has many contacts, without any contacts a private eye is hopeless, a good example of this is Bernie, Bernie assists with identifying the BMW which is following Claudia. She is also not afraid of seeking information from or confronting others when necessary, Claudia is also not afraid of defending herself from her enemies, this is presented within the novel where